Dance company featuring Bedford performer shortlisted for coveted Olivier Awards

A dance theatre company with two connections to Bedford has been nominated for an Olivier Award.

The Rhiannon Faith Company has received the nod in the outstanding achievement in dance category for a community-focused conception called Lay Down Your Burdens.

And not only has Rhiannon Faith studied performing arts at De Montfort University in Bedford, but one of the performers in the piece is Bedford’s very own Sara Turner.

Lay Down Your Burdens – a co-commission by the Barbican and Harlow Playhouse – was devised by the company from an idea by Rhiannon. During the Covid lockdown, she wondered how people would share their burdens and was inspired by the Bob Dylan song Lay Down your Weary Tune.

The show is an immersive piece set in a pub and is interactive with audience participation.

Sara said: “It’s been an amazing process devising and performing this piece. We all contributed autobiographical material and Rhiannon waved her artistic wand to make it into the piece it is. We worked in many communities up and down the country making the piece where the community were ‘creative friends’ giving much valued feedback on the work.”

Sara added: “I met Rhiannon over 20 years ago when we both studied performing arts at De Montfort University here in Bedford. She cast me to perform in the Vagina Monologues many moons ago. Her practice was community focused even then – using performance to raise awareness for women’s issues.

"We both believe arts can have a transformative effect on communities, so much so that I have set up a community interest company with Anne-Marie Abbate to achieve this. It’s called Permission2 as we create safe spaces for people to give themselves permission to play, experiment, fail, grow and learn through art.”

The Olivier Awards – recognised internationally as the highest honour in British theatre and our equivalent to Broadway's Tony Awards – are being held at the Royal Albert Hall on April 14.

Fingers crossed and good luck Sara – though in the interests of full disclosure, she’s my sister, so I’m a little biased.